Our worldwide travels beginning in the year 2017

“Roadtrip day 8…Melbourne…”

Now that we’re back in the tent and not in the car as the rain has cleared, I’m sleeping much better. Snoring like a freight train as I can’t breathe out my nose so I’m not sure how well Nathan is sleeping, but hey, he slept in the car and I didn’t so it’s only fair right?

Anyway, Sunday rolled around and we were only an hour from Melbourne so we set off once we packed the tent away. After arguing about which car park we were going to park in, (one was $11 all day the other $12), it turned out I was wrong and the first car park he was going to pull into was the one we needed. I’ll keep schtum from now on methinks! Once parked, we proceeded to get lost in this city. We entered the visitor centre to pick up a map and some brochures then headed out. The ACMI building was very quirky with some cafes underneath. Across the road, there was St Paul’s Cathedral, a 19th century neo-gothic cathedral which towered at the end of Federation Square. Melbourne is also renowned for its awesome street art. Union Street and Hosier Lane are two of the best places to see these artists work.The mix of colours and messages makes for a great tourist spot within the city. Down the streets, people are taking photos or posing for selfies with the artwork.From Union Street we headed toward Parliament. There was the treasury building and a number of buildings behind it as well as a magnificent cathedral to the left of it. St Peters Cathedral is the largest church in all of Australia! This stunning gothic cathedral is simply beautiful!Back round by Parliament House it actually allows you right up close to it as well as tours inside! Whilst it’s possibly not the most mesmerising parliament building we’ve been fortunate to gaze upon, it was beautiful along the road.Melbourne has a grid-like layout which makes it incredibly easy for tourists such as us, to navigate round! Some cities we’ve been to claim to have this grid-like ease, but in reality they’re not as Melbourne is. Nor are they that easy to find your way around!Melbourne is probably most famous for its trams. There are tram stops everywhere and some are even free! Bourke street boasts the main shopping centre with a huge mall consisting of shops such as Superdry, Converse, and similar brands. We carried on walking up past the state library and this cool building before reaching the Old Melbourne Gaol.Our aim next, was to locate the Queen Victoria Marketplace, situated at the northern end of the city.Here, you had a mixture of everything. Souvenirs, fresh fruit and vegetables, t-shirts, license plates, towels, even wine tasting! You name it, they had it. Granted, it probably wasn’t as clean or organised as The Rocks Market in Sydney, and we didn’t spend that long wandering round it either.There’s a whole array of beautiful architecture throughout this city! If you look up above the shops that they have squeezed into every space possible, you’ll see older more ornate buildings. They’re my favourite part of the city. It’s sort of historic meets modern. We headed back via Elizabeth Street to the corner of Bourke Street. You had a huge H&M on the corner which was housed inside a beautifully ornate building, with vegetarians protesting about meat outside it. There were people chanting things from the steps and even a model pig trapped inside a cage, as well as people trying to force leaflets in your hands. Sorry guys but I love my meat way to much to give it up! Try the next person!The street was all set up for Christmas with people queuing at the windows to take photos of the new ‘Festive Windows,’ which even had security guards! The sky was covered in lights dangling from the lampposts ready to light up once it got dark and even trees had snug Christmas jumpers! It was feeling very festive except for the veggie protesters! There is also the royal arcade decked out for Christmas with tasteful lights and a tree in the middle of this boutique arcade.We carried on walking down Elizabeth street, taking a left on Little Collins Street to find Hosier Lane. The last spot we would find epic graffiti! These people are seriously so talented! I can barely draw a stick man let alone a full on mural on a brick wall!!Along the narrower streets there are little restaurants and bistros that cram you in to every little space on one side and then a pavement for pedestrians on the other. It makes the alley seem so much wider! The restaurants are pretty cool too.As we reached Foundation Square, we grabbed ourselves two free bottles of Lipton infused water, one with watermelon the other with cucumber and mint, and proceeded to stroll across the bridge to Southbank where we got the most stunning views of the Melbourne skyline.Our day in Melbourne was wonderful. Full of epic street art, historic gothic buildings, a trip to parliament and the old Melbourne gaol finished off with a fantastic view across the water.

We swung by Docklands on our way out of the city to see if there were any souvenir shops. There was one horrendously tacky one but, they had the most amazing shop called Typo, which sold awesome stationery and gifts. It’s my new favourite shop! We also treated ourselves to some homemade ice cream. Well I did, kinder bueno, possibly the best ice cream I have ever tasted. Nathan went for a Jaffa cake milkshake. Why I don’t know. It sounds horrible.Our campsite for the night was up near Wangarratta which would be the start of our journey along the Great Alpine Road the following day. On our way up there we pulled into a truck stop and they had the most delightful hot showers! I actually felt amazingly clean for all of about two minutes before I started sweating again in the thirty degree heat.

Wenhams campsite was down a dirt track that looked like it led to nowhere. But. Oh it led us to the most amazing campsite surrounded by trees and greenery home to what must have been fifty or more kangaroos! They were so close to us and made the area even more beautiful as the sun set, filling the sky with pinks and blues.We did get close to the kangaroos and as soon as we passed the tree line two daddy kangaroos suddenly squared up there shoulders, stood upright with their balls hanging out, looking very protective of their family. We snapped some photos and left them to it as we headed into the tent to catch some z’s.There was horrendous grunting coming from the fields in the early hours of the night and when we looked to see what it was, we could see male kangaroos pawing at the females tails and then proceeding to enter in some very noisy coitus…

Until next time…

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Published by Emma & Nathan’s Travels

Nathan and I spent 8 months travelling America, Central America, South America and Australia before returning home, but that hasn't deterred us from more adventures. Since then, we have visited other countries and I have also incorporated places visited with others (",)
Whilst my website describes 2017, our adventures will last a lifetime and I will reminisce about places visited before as well as after.
I live to travel and explore new places with an aim to visit every country in the world
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